NEESgrid: A Distributed Virtual Laboratory for Advanced Earthquake Experimentation and Simulation

小乔治·E·布朗。地震工程模拟网络(NEES)是国家科学基金(NSF)重大研究设备拨款项目。NEES的目标是提供地理上分散的、共享使用的下一代实验研究设备场地的国家网络模拟资源，具有远程观测和远程操作能力，将通过协作和集成的实验、计算、理论、数据库和基于模型的模拟来改变地震工程研究和教育的环境，以改进美国土木工程和机械基础设施系统的抗震设计和性能。NEES将建设到2004年9月30日，然后从2004年10月1日到2014年9月30日进入运行期，在此期间，它将由一个NEES联合体(将成立)运营。这份为期39个月、耗资1,000万美元的合作协议与伊利诺伊州香槟伊利诺伊大学董事会就名为“NEESgrid：高级地震实验和模拟的分布式虚拟实验室”的项目达成了合作协议，这是对提交给NSF 00-7项目“NEES：系统集成”的建议进行同行评审的结果。NEESgrid项目将由伊利诺伊州香槟的伊利诺伊大学香槟分校(UIUC)领导，合作伙伴包括伊利诺伊州芝加哥大学、密歇根大学安娜堡分校、加利福尼亚州南加州大学洛杉矶分校和新墨西哥州雪松克雷斯特TeraScale有限责任公司。这个多组织团队将根据NEESgrid项目执行计划，为NEES设计、开发、实施、测试基于互联网的全国规模的高性能网络系统，并使其投入运营。NEESgrid将建立在经过验证的现有网格技术之上。它的设计将整合商业和研究部门现有的最佳做法工具。NEESgrid将是一种灵活且高度可扩展的分层、模块化架构，将能够快速开发新的终端用户应用程序、引入新服务以及在开发新的模拟软件和实验设施时将它们整合在一起。NEESgrid将通过高性能互联网连接分散的主要地震工程研究设备，其中包括振动台、土工离心机、海啸波浪池、大型实验室实验系统，以及由NSF NEES计划单独颁发的NEES设备奖资助的现场实验和监测设备。每个实验设施都有一个专用的计算机系统，称为NEES入网点(NEESPOP)，它将实现远程观测、远程操作和网络监控。协作技术将能够在实验发生时对其进行规划和远程观察。除了在NEES设备地点提供远程呈现，NEESgrid还将使用尖端工具将尖端计算资源和数据存储设施连接起来，包括一个将实验和分析地震工程及相关数据存档的精选储存库。NEESgrid还将为实验和计算数据的可视化提供分布式物理和数值模拟能力和资源。NEESgrid支持节点将维护包含教程的在线知识库，并操作使用NEESgrid的帮助台。UIUC及其合作伙伴将与NEES设备站点、NEES联盟发展奖获得者、NEES联盟和地震工程界密切合作，为NEES网格设计制定用户要求和性能规范。NEESgrid必须在2004年9月30日之前投入使用。2004年，UIUC将把NEES网格的运营移交给NEES联合体，由该联合体从2004年10月1日开始运营。

The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) is a project funded under the National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Equipment appropriation. The goal of NEES is to provide a national, networked simulation resource of geographically-distributed, shared use next-generation experimental research equipment sites, with teleobservation and teleoperation capabilities, which will transform the environment for earthquake engineering research and education through collaborative and integrated experimentation, computation, theory, databases, and model-based simulation to improve the seismic design and performance of U.S. civil and mechanical infrastructure systems. NEES will be constructed through September 30, 2004, and then enter its operational period from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2014, during which time it will be operated by a NEES Consortium (to be established). This 39-month, $10,000,000 cooperative agreement with The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, for the project entitled "NEESgrid: A Distributed Virtual Laboratory for Advanced Earthquake Experimentation and Simulation" is the outcome of the peer review of proposals submitted to program solicitation NSF 00-7, "NEES: System Integration." The NEESgrid project will be led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Champaign, Illinois, in partnership with the University of Chicago, Chicago, llinois; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and TeraScale, LLC, Cedar Crest, New Mexico. This multi-organizational team will design, develop, implement, test, and make operational the Internet-based, national-scale high performance network system for NEES, called "NEESgrid" in accordance with the NEESgrid Project Execution Plan. NEESgrid will build on proven, existing Grid technology. Its design will integrate existing best practice tools from the commercial and research sectors. NEESgrid will be a layered, modular architecture that is flexible and highly extensible and will enable rapid development of new end-user applications, the introduction of new services, and the integration of new simulation software and experimental facilities as they are developed. NEESgrid will connect, through a high performance Internet network, distributed major earthquake engineering research equipment that includes shake tables, geotechnical centrifuges, a tsunami wave basin, large-scale laboratory experimentation systems, and field experimentation and monitoring installations funded through separate NEES equipment awards made by the NSF NEES program. A dedicated computer system at each experimental facility, called a NEES Point-of-Presence (NEESpop), will enable teleobservation, teleoperation, and network monitoring. Collaborative technologies will enable planning for and teleobservation of experiments as they occur. In addition to providing access for telepresence at the NEES equipment sites, NEESgrid will use cutting-edge tools to link leading edge computational resources and data storage facilities, including a curated repository that will archive experimental and analytical earthquake engineering and related data. NEESgrid also will provide distributed physical and numerical simulation capabilities and resources for visualization of experimental and computed data. NEESgrid support nodes will maintain online knowledge bases that contain tutorials and operate help desks for using NEESgrid. UIUC and its partners will work closely with NEES equipment sites, NEES Consortium Development awardee, NEES Consortium, and the earthquake engineering community to develop the user requirements and performance specifications for NEESgrid design. NEESgrid must be operational by September 30, 2004. During 2004, UIUC will transition operation of NEESgrid to the NEES Consortium for operation by the Consortium starting on October 1, 2004.